Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy describes how 1577750 B.C. Ltd, doing business as Stern Bench ("Stern Bench," "we," "us," or "our"), collects, uses, and protects your information when you use Stern Bench Search (the "Service"). This policy should be read together with our Terms, including the Platform Agreement, Acceptable Use Policy, and Data Processing Addendum, available on our website.

1. Information We Collect

1.1 Account Information

When you create an account, we collect your email address. We also collect authentication metadata, including login timestamps and authentication method, through our identity provider (Firebase Authentication).

1.2 Research Activity

When you use the Service:

• Search queries are processed in real time to return search results.
• Stern Bench does not provide a user-facing search history and does not keep a page-by-page case-browsing history within the application.
• We retain limited operational data needed to operate, secure, and measure the Service. This can include session or account identifiers, hashed IP address, aggregate daily usage records, rate-limit or abuse-prevention records, landing path, timestamps, and campaign metadata.
• When you open a case page, the relevant request is processed by our hosting and infrastructure providers to deliver that page.

1.3 Usage and Device Data

We automatically collect:

• IP address, browser type, and basic device identifiers.
• Limited service usage and security metadata, including aggregate daily usage counts and rate-limit or abuse-prevention signals.
• Performance and error data to maintain service reliability.

2. How We Use Information

We use collected information to:

• Provide and operate the Service, including search, ranking, and account-related features.
• Maintain account preferences across sessions.
• Maintain security, prevent misuse, and enforce our Terms.
• Measure aggregate service usage and improve functionality and performance.
• Communicate service-related updates and material changes.

We do not use your information for advertising purposes. We do not sell personal information to third parties.

3. Search Processing and Third-Party Infrastructure

Search queries are processed by third-party search infrastructure to deliver the Service.

How search processing works:

• Your search queries and relevant case-corpus metadata are sent to Google Cloud's Vertex AI Search service to retrieve and rank relevant case results.
• Google Cloud also processes separate service data and technical-operational information needed to operate, secure, support, and maintain its services under its Cloud Privacy Notice.

What we do not do:

• We do not use your search activity to train general-purpose models.
• We do not share your data with unrelated third parties for model training.
• We do not retain search-query content within the Stern Bench application as user-facing search history after delivery.

4. Third-Party Service Providers

We use the following service providers to operate the Service:

These providers process data only as necessary to deliver the Service and are subject to their respective data processing agreements. A current list of subprocessors is maintained at /legal/subprocessors. Where the Data Processing Addendum applies, subprocessor use is further governed by that addendum.

5. Data Retention

We retain different categories of data for different periods:

Search queries and case browsing activity are not retained as user-facing research history. Limited operational and related metadata may still be retained as described above.

Upon account deletion, we will delete your personal data within 30 days.

6. Cookies

We use limited first-party session technologies and local browser storage to:

• Maintain authenticated user sessions.
• Remember basic product preferences and cached UI state in your browser.

We do not use advertising cookies or marketing trackers. We do not build user-specific search or browsing histories for advertising or profiling purposes.

7. Data Security

We implement reasonable administrative, technical, and organisational measures to protect your information, including:

• Encryption of data in transit (TLS) and at rest.
• Restricted access to systems and data on a need-to-know basis.
• Infrastructure hosted on enterprise-grade cloud providers with SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certifications.

No system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. In the event of a data breach that poses a real risk of significant harm to you, we will notify affected users and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada as required by PIPEDA.

8. International Data Processing

Stern Bench is based in British Columbia, Canada. Your information may be processed and stored in Canada, the United States, or other jurisdictions where our service providers operate. Where data is transferred outside of Canada, we rely on the data processing agreements and security commitments of our service providers to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place. For further details, see our Data Processing Addendum.

9. Your Rights

You have the right to:

• Access your personal data held by us.
• Correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
• Delete your account and associated personal data (available through account settings or by contacting us).
• Withdraw consent to data processing, where consent is the basis for processing.

We will respond to rights requests within 30 days of receipt, as required by PIPEDA. If you are dissatisfied with our response, you have the right to file a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

10. Children's Privacy

The Service is not directed at individuals under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 16, we will take steps to delete that information promptly.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will provide notice through the Service or by email to the address associated with your account. Your continued use of the Service following notice of changes constitutes acceptance of the revised policy.

12. Governing Law

This Privacy Policy is governed by the laws of the Province of British Columbia and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein, including the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).

13. Contact

For privacy-related inquiries or to exercise your data rights, contact us at founder@sternbench.com.